Latest news with #SebastianAho
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Why Sebastian Aho's stunning Game 5 goal means perfection for Hurricanes
The post Why Sebastian Aho's stunning Game 5 goal means perfection for Hurricanes appeared first on ClutchPoints. The Carolina Hurricanes completed step one of their potential comeback on Monday night, getting a Game 4 win over the Florida Panthers to cut the Eastern Conference Finals deficit to 3-1. However, they know that they still have a lot of work to do to get back in the series and pull off one of the greatest comebacks ever. Advertisement On Wednesday night, the Hurricanes are back home to try and get a second consecutive win to push the series back to Florida for Game 6. Carolina got off on the right foot with a goal by Sebastian Aho to take a 1-0 lead in the first period. Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind'Amour talked about the importance of scoring first heading into Game 5, and the stats back that up. Carolina is 6-0 this postseason when getting on the board before its opponent, and it is trying to make it a perfect seven on Wednesday night. Unfortunately for the Hurricanes, they have a lot of work to do to improve that record to 7-0 and keep their season alive heading into Game 6. Aho scored a second goal in the first period to give Carolina a 2-0 lead at the first break, but as the Panthers have done so many times before, they responded with a flurry. Advertisement The defending Stanley Cup champs dominated the second period, scoring three goals to take a 3-2 lead with just 20 minutes to play. Matthew Tkachuk got the scoring underway for Florida with a power play goal before Evan Rodrigues tied the game at two just 30 seconds later. Then, just post the halfway mark of the period, Anton Lundell netted the go-ahead goal to put the Panthers in pole position on the road. The Hurricanes will certainly come out and play a frantic third period as they try to find the equalizer, but that isn't really their style of play. However, it will need to become comfortable if Carolina wants to make something happen and get back in the game, and the series. Maybe Aho can come up with a third goal to cement the hat trick and help keep his team's season alive.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Hurricanes extend bonkers record after another playoff crash out
The post Hurricanes extend bonkers record after another playoff crash out appeared first on ClutchPoints. The Carolina Hurricanes' season came to an end on Wednesday night, as they were eliminated from the Stanley Cup Playoffs by the Florida Panthers, who won by a 5-3 final score in Game 5. Advertisement For the third consecutive season, the Panthers are the last team standing in the Eastern Conference and now hope to make it consecutive Stanley Cup victories, awaiting the winner of the Dallas Stars and Edmonton Oilers in the Western Conference Final. But for the Hurricanes, it was another disappointing end to another strong regular season that also saw them cruise through the opening two rounds of the postseason against the New Jersey Devils and Washington Capitals. In doing so, they've made some unfortunate sports history. This season marks the seventh consecutive campaign that the Hurricanes have won at least a single round in the postseason but ultimately fell short of advancing to the championship round; no other team in the major four North American sports leagues has done that in more than five consecutive seasons. The teams to do so in five straight seasons include the Toronto Maple Leafs, the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks, and the NFL's Buffalo Bills. The Hurricanes failed to protect their 2-0 lead in Game 5 James Guillory-Imagn Images The Hurricanes avoided what would have been a fourth consecutive sweep of their team in the Eastern Conference Final when they managed to prolong their campaign with a 3-0 victory over the Panthers in Game 4 on Monday night in Florida. Advertisement Things went well for the Hurricanes in the opening 20 minutes of play on Wednesday, as they quickly took a 2-0 lead thanks to a pair of goals from Sebastian Aho. But the Panthers quickly stunned the Hurricanes in the second period with three goals in a span of just under five minutes of time from Matthew Tkachuk, Anton Lundell and Evan Rodrigues, taking a 3-2 lead. Carolina then knotted the score at 3-3 in the third period as Seth Jarvis capitalized on a Florida turnover, slipping the puck past goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky. But once again, the Panthers had the answer as Carter Verhaeghe netted what proved to be the game-winner at the 12:21 mark. Sam Bennett then sealed the win by hitting the vacated net with goaltender Frederik Andersen on the bench for a sixth attacker. It'll now be another offseason full of question marks in Raleigh.
CTV News
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- CTV News
For the 2nd straight year, Hurricanes left to lament falling in huge series hole in NHL playoff exit
Carolina Hurricanes' Sebastian Aho (20) reacts following the Hurricanes loss to the Florida Panthers following Game 5 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Eastern Conference finals in Raleigh, N.C., Wednesday, May 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Karl DeBlaker) RALEIGH, N.C. — For the second straight year, the Carolina Hurricanes failed to win a game in their last postseason series until on the edge of elimination. This time, it ended their season in another Eastern Conference final — the stage proving to be a roadblock in their multiyear Stanley Cup push. The Hurricanes fell 5-3 to the Florida Panthers on Wednesday night in Game 5, sending the Panthers back to the sport's final stage for the third straight year while ending Carolina's latest lengthy playoff grind short of the ultimate goal. And it ended in a similar fashion to the previous year: with Carolina losing the first three games of a series, spending multiple games trying to dig out of that massive hole and then losing a two-goal lead at home in the game that ultimately ended their season. 'I think essentially we lost in the first few games,' Carolina captain Jordan Staal said. 'You can't start a series like that and expect a better outcome.' A year ago, it was an 0-3 series deficit to the Presidents' Trophy-winning New York Rangers in the second round. The Hurricanes regrouped to win two elimination games and carried a 3-1 lead into the third period of a Game 6 at home, only to see the Rangers surge back behind Chris Kreider's hat trick in the final 20 minutes in a 5-3 victory. This time, it was an 0-3 series deficit to the the reigning Stanley Cup champion, a tested and deep team unafraid to play and surpass Carolina's aggressive-forechecking approach. And it ended with a matching final score. 'We knew it was going to be a big task to try to beat them,' said Carolina's Sebastian Aho, who had two first-period goals Wednesday that put the Hurricanes ahead. 'We truly believe we have what it takes, but obviously we fell short yet again.' By the final horn, Carolina's lamentations went back to losing the first two games at home, the second being a 5-0 blowout in which the Panthers were shockingly dominant and the Hurricanes' normally rowdy fans were left to frustratedly chant 'Shoot the puck! Shoot the puck!' 'Those first two games you'd probably want back, but it's too little, too late,' said Seth Jarvis, who had a tying goal midway through the third period before Florida made its go-ahead move on Carter Verhaeghe's score. 'And that's kind of the result of it.' By Game 3, Carolina had seen a 1-1 game entering the third mushroom into a 6-2 loss for their 15th straight loss in a conference final going back to sweeps in 2009, 2019 and the 2023 one against these Panthers. The Hurricanes regrouped to win Game 4 on the road and avert another sweep, but they faced a long climb to accomplish the improbable. Carolina jumped to a 2-0 lead with Aho twice putting Panthers giveaways in the neutral zone into the net behind Sergei Bobrovsky. But the Panthers flurry of three goals on consecutive second-period shots — two coming in a 30-second span — erased that deficit and silenced a roaring crowd giddy by Carolina's start. While the Hurricanes responded with Seth Jarvis' tying goal midway through the third, the dynamic of the game had completely changed after a flurry coach Rod Brind'Amour called 'a backbreaker.' 'You could just feel us — it's just natural, the building, everything, it kind of sucked a little bit of life out of us,' he said. Carolina's five-week playoff push had included five-game series wins against the New Jersey Devils and Washington Capitals, the latter being this year's top seed in the Eastern Conference. Yet the Hurricanes went from going 5-0 at home in those two series to losing all three home games against the Panthers. Carolina has won at least one postseason series in its current run of seven straight playoff appearances, though three have now ended in the Eastern final. 'We've had slow starts in the series, when it gets to the top four teams, they're great teams, and having a slow start is never great,' Staal said. 'Obviously we always believe in the group when we get here and coming up short is never easy, and it doesn't get any easier. We'll just try to get better and try again.' ___ Aaron Beard, The Associated Press
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Panthers rally past Hurricanes 5-3 in Game 5, return to Stanley Cup Final again: takeaways
The Florida Panthers lived up to their championship pedigree once again Wednesday night in Raleigh, rallying from a 2-0 deficit to defeat the Carolina Hurricanes 5-3 in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Final and win the best-of-7 series. The defending champions advanced to the Stanley Cup Final for the third consecutive season, to become only the fourth team since 1979-80 to accomplish that feat. Coming off a 3-0 home-ice loss Monday in Game 4, the Panthers started slowly in Game 5, allowing a pair of goals by Sebastian Aho in the first period. The Panthers turned it on in the second period when they scored three goals on three shots in a span of 4:36. They then shook off a game-tying goal by Seth Jarvis in the third, with Carter Verhaeghe potting his sixth playoff goal to punch their ticket into the Cup Final once again. The Panthers will face the winner of the Western Conference Final. That could be a rematch against the Edmonton Oilers, who lead the Dallas Stars three games to one, with Game 5 set for Thursday in Dallas. The Panthers won their first Stanley Cup championship by defeating the Oilers in Game 7 a year ago. Advertisement The Hurricanes came out flying, recording the first eight shot attempts Wednesday night, playing with intensity and fire. They flummoxed and frustrated the Panthers, and then cashed in on a pair of turnovers to grab a 2-0 lead. First, it was Gustav Forsling's soft pass at center ice that was picked off by Aho, who jetted away on a breakaway and beat Sergei Bobrovsky glove side to make it 1-0 at 4:39. Then late in the period, Niko Mikkola coughed the puck up in the neutral zone. Carolina quickly transitioned the other way, and Aho scored again, snapping a shot between Mikkola's legs and past a screened Bobrovsky at 18:54. It could've been worse for the Panthers, but Bobrovsky made two massive saves earlier in that first period to keep the Panthers from being run out of the building. He made an outstanding pad save to deny William Carrier bursting down the middle after accepting an Eric Robinson pass at 11:08. Then at the 16-minute mark, Bobrovsky shut down Jackson Blake's 1-on-1 power-play shot. Advertisement Bobrovsky did it again early in the second period, when he stoned Mark Jankowski with a blocker save off a 2-on-1 just 47 seconds in. The tide turned in Florida's favor shortly thereafter. The Panthers killed off a Seth Jones holding penalty at 5:03 and then promptly cashed in a power-play goal of their own at 7:23, following a Jesperi Kotkaniemi penalty for holding at 7:07. Matthew Tkachuk deflected an Aaron Ekblad shot past Frederik Andersen for his fifth goal of the playoffs and Florida's first since their Game 3 victory. The Panthers seized on the momentum swing and scored on their next shot just 30 seconds later to tie the score. Tkachuk took a hit along the benches to make a slick pass to the onrushing Sam Bennett. That created a 2-on-1, and Evan Rodrigues went to the net to bury Bennett's feed at 7:53 to make it 2-2. Advertisement Four minutes passed before Florida's next shot. But that one ended up in the back of the net, too. Anton Lundell gained position on Aho in front of Andersen and redirected Brad Marchand's brilliant pass into the cage for his fifth playoff goal to give the Panthers their first lead at 11:59. That 3-2 score carried to the intermission only because Bobrovsky made two huge saves in the closing minutes to deny Aho the hat trick with Carolina on the power play. He then started the third period with a huge save on a short-handed opportunity by Jarvis at 2:50, after a chip feed from Aho. On that same Florida power play, Andersen came up big at the other end with two clutch saves against Marchand and Verhaeghe during a wild scramble in the crease. Advertisement Jarvis got another chance later in the period, and this time the Hurricanes forward was not to be denied. Jarvis pounced on a loose puck in the low slot after Andrei Svechnikov poked it toward open ice and beat Bobrovsky 1-on-1 to tie the score 3-3 at 8:30. But the Panthers kept their composure and ultimately regained the lead four minutes later. A brilliant individual effort by Aleksander Barkov, holding off Carolina defenseman Dmitry Orlov as he circled the net before dishing to the wide-open Verhaeghe for the go-ahead goal at 12:21, made all the difference for the defending champs. But the drama wasn't over in this one just yet. Bennett was assessed a minor penalty for slashing with three minutes left in regulation. The Hurricanes pulled Andersen and had a 6-on-4 power play, but failed to score when Aho and Svehcnikov misfired on great looks and Bobrovsky made a game-saving stop on Shayne Gostisbehere's bomb of a slap shot. Advertisement Bennett then burst out of the penalty box, beat everyone down ice to a loose puck and jammed his 10th postseason goal into the empty net at 19:06, effectively ending the series and Carolina's season. Related: Edmonton Oilers one win from Stanley Cup Final after beating Dallas Stars 4-1 in Game 4: takeaways 3 takeaways after Panthers advance to Stanley Cup Final again with Game 5 win over Hurricanes Credit: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images warriors The Hurricanes entered this best-of-7 series with home-ice advantage; but playing at Lenovo Center was no advantage whatsoever for them. The Panthers came into Raleigh and won all three games played there, after the Hurricanes began the postseason 5-0 on home ice. Advertisement Florida is 8-2 on the road in these playoffs, and outscored Carolina 15-5 in Raleigh during this series. The Hurricanes have won five straight on the road, outscoring their opponents by a whopping 27-7 margin. They eliminated the Tampa Bay Lightning (in Game 5), Toronto Maple Leafs (in Game 7) and Hurricanes (in Game 5) all on the road. Also Read:: NHL free agency — Top defensemen available in 2025, including Aaron Ekblad 2. By the numbers The Hurricanes were 32-0 in the regular season and playoffs when leading by two goals or more and 6-0 in the postseason when scoring first. The Panthers ended each streak, and did so in typical fashion, with five different goal scorers and 10 skaters recording at least one point Wednesday. When Rodrigues scored in the second period, he became the 19th different Panthers skater to score a goal in this postseason. Advertisement A deciding factor in Game 5 was special teams play. The Hurricanes were 0-for-6 on the power play, and the Panthers were 1-for-4, scoring just their second road power-play goal in the playoffs. The Hurricanes who improved to 18-18 all-time in playoff elimination games with their victory Monday, dropped back under .500 with this Game 5 loss. They also fell to 1-16 in their past 17 games in the conference final dating to 2009 (1-12 with Rod Brind-Amour as coach). Also Read:: NHL rumors: Insiders provide update on Mitch Marner, potential replacement for Toronto Maple Leafs 3. Losing Luostarinen The Panthers got three previously injured players back in the lineup for Game 5 — Mikkola, Sam Reinhart and A.J. Greer. But they lost another key player late in the first period, when Eetu Luostarinen missed a hit and went flying into the boards at 17:12. He staggered heading back to the bench and didn't return. The 26-year-old forward was ruled out by the Panthers at the start of the second period. Two shifts before that massive missed hit, Luostarinen was cross-checked hard by Carolina's Carrier. It's unknown if that also contribited to him leaving the game. Advertisement A staple on Florida's productive third line, Luostarinen entered Game 5 tied for the NHL lead with 12 road points (four goals, eight assists) in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Related Headlines
New York Times
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- New York Times
The Hurricanes are still missing something — and Aleksander Barkov gave them proof
SUNRISE, Fla. — In the end, or at least at the beginning of it, the Carolina Hurricanes did what we asked of them. Make no mistake: The first period of the final game of their 2024-25 season never quite seemed like it'd be enough to save them. That wasn't the point. Because even in the moment, even with them at their best, the ghosts of games 1, 2 and 3 against the Florida Panthers waited around the corner. No team in the history of the NHL has dug itself a hole like that against the defending champs and lived to tell the tale. Advertisement But in era of Hurricanes hockey that has been and may continue to be defined by widespread perception that they're lacking a sixth gear, or a knob that turns to 11, or the type of high-end talent necessary to advance to conference finals and then continue to climb, the first period felt like real, live pushback. It felt like we were learning something. In the end, though — the real end — we learned the truth, and Aleksander Barkov taught the lesson. 'Their best player,' Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour said, 'made an elite play.' Sebastian Aho is Carolina's best forward, their first-line center, and their highest-paid player. He's led his team in scoring in seven of the last eight seasons. And he's wonderful — creative, responsible, highly skilled, a player you can win with, a player you can build around. The question, though, as ever, is whether that's enough. The question is whether he's elite. And it's a fair one; only so many players — 10, maybe 15 — should get that label. For someone who, in his last two trips to the conference finals, had two goals in 10 games, it's tough to argue the case. And in the first 20 minutes on Wednesday night, he did his best. Aho, at 4:39 of the first period and with his team buzzing around him, intercepted a neutral-zone pass by Florida's Gustav Forsling and, in clear, beat Sergei Bobrovsky cleanly from the slot. With 1:06 remaining, he scooped up a loose puck along the boards, took off toward Bobrovsky and used Panthers defenseman Niko Mikkola as a screen to beat Bobrovsky again. In a period that was even in plenty of ways, Aho's goals were the difference. In a game that was just as even — something you could say about three of the five we saw here — it was not. The difference was Barkov. Florida's first-line center is not all-world, but he's close enough to it. If Connor McDavid is at the top of the list, and if Nathan MacKinnon and Auston Matthews swap spots behind him depending on the season, Barkov is probably next in line. He's consistently the most complete player of the four, the only one who's won a Selke and one of two, along with MacKinnon, who's been the best player on a Stanley Cup champion. And as the clock drained, and media members in the press box at Lenovo Center priced out hotel rooms for a potential Game 5, Barkov pulled the plug. Advertisement He picked up the puck deep in Carolina's zone along the right boards and carried it behind the net. Along the way, he picked up a hitchhiker — Hurricanes defenseman Dmitry Orlov — carried him into the left corner and then ejected him from the car. A move toward the crease set up a feed to Carter Verhaeghe, and that was that. Florida was up 4-3 with 7:40 left, but if you were smart, you went to bed. 'Everything happened quick,' Barkov said afterward. Orlov would agree. 'I had good momentum there, had good speed, so I just tried to protect the puck.' Evan Rodrigues has spent plenty of time on the ice with Barkov over the last two seasons. He knows what he's watching. He knows who Barkov is and how he does what he did on Wednesday night. 'It's kind of his demeanor, to be honest, Rodrigues said. 'It's just who he is as a person. He doesn't get too high, doesn't get too low. His emotion level is always even-keeled, so when there's a stressful environment or a high-emotion environment, he's able to play his game, stick with his game, and just do the right thing over and over and over again, and his skill just kind of takes over. You never see him force anything, you never see him try anything dangerous. 'He's just all-world, all skill, all talent, and it just comes out.' Players like Barkov making plays like the pass to Verhaeghe aren't inevitable. None of them are; a standard line about McDavid in particular is that, at times, he feels like he can simply decide to score. Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final is proof that's not the case. But the vibe exists, and that counts for something. It's not just about scoring goals or setting them up; it's about the timing. It's about the sequencing. Aho had it early. He didn't have it late. And that's a bitter bit of irony — not just for him, either. Carolina, at last, got a two-goal, take-charge, juiced-up period from its best player, and it didn't matter all that much. For six minutes after the loss, Aho stood at his locker, taking questions about another season that ended earlier than any hockey player would like. He answered them thoughtfully, emotionally, reasonably and honestly, talking about the second-period meltdown and missed opportunities on the power play. Advertisement One of the questions was about the idea that losing in five games rather than four could be a moral victory 'To me, you either win or lose (a) series,' Aho said. 'What's it matter? If you lose in four or seven or whatever, you lose the series, right? 'And obviously, that's a great hockey team. I mean, one team has beat them the past three seasons, right? So we knew it was going to be a big task to try to beat them. And we truly believe that we have what it takes, but obviously fell short yet again. So, yeah. Pissed. Really pissed off.' Brind'Amour, a few minutes later, was in a similar spot. He wasn't interested in the idea that his team should try to adapt. Florida, he said, won a Cup and might win another based on a style that isn't far off from his own. Exit your zone, enter theirs, forecheck hard, wait for your chance and capitalize. 'I feel like that's been our game for a long time. They've kind of picked it up the last couple of years and made it that much better,' he said, thumb and forefinger a couple of inches apart 'So that's what we've got to get.' For a moment, it seemed like they had it. And now it seems more clear than ever before that they don't. (Photo of Aleksander Barkov and Dmitry Orlov battling for possession of the puck: Jared C. Tilton / Getty Images)
